Q&A: MLS commissioner Garber says league has arrived

Garber: MLS has arrivedCommissioner says expansion, talent are keys

Published 5:30 am, Monday, July 26, 2010

MLS commissioner Don Garber addresses a variety of soccer-related issues in a conversation with the Chronicle’s Jose de Jesus Ortiz ahead of Wednesday’s MLS All-Star Game at Reliant Stadium

Q: There has been a recent influx of designated players in MLS. How has the position helped MLS’ growth?

A: Talking about (Nery) Castillo and Thierry Henry, the designated player will always be an important part of our strategy to improve the quality of our play and grow our attendance and television ratings. David Beckham started the process in 2007 and has been a great contributor to the success of Major League Soccer. There have been other great players like Cuauhtémoc (Blanco) and Juan Pablo Angel. And I really look forward to seeing how Thierry Henry and Castillo and others can continue to carry the torch for Major League Soccer and just help our league grow or improve its stature both here and abroad.

Q: What have soccer-specific stadiums meant to the MLS, and what do you think the new stadium here in Houston will do for the Dynamo franchise?

A: Clearly MLS wouldn’t be where it is today without the development of the nine soccer stadiums that we have in the league. We have 10 clubs playing in nine soccer-specific stadiums since our two L.A. teams share the Home Depot Center. Every sports fan wants to witness a game in a safe and beautiful facility, one that provides a great showcase for the league. In other leagues, fans take their stadiums for granted because it’s such an integral part of the relationship that a fan has with its club. With MLS, when the league was founded, we played in large football stadiums. Obviously, in Houston, we’ve been playing in a college football stadium. But the development of great facilities like the Home Depot Center and Pizza Hut Park in Dallas and PPL Park in Philadelphia, BMO Field in Canada, Red Bull Arena and sometime soon a new stadium in Houston, it shows that this team is embedded in the community with bricks and mortar, providing a real cathedral for fans to celebrate the game.

Q: At this point, the MLS imports most of its major stars. What is the league doing to develop future stars here?

A: A really important part of our strategic direction is having each of our clubs have a soccer academy that is taking responsibility in a local market to develop great, young talent that hopefully can aspire to play for their local MLS club and that ultimately serve as an inspiration for local fans. Our programs are free for participants and are solely focused on raising the quality of play in Major League Soccer and developing very strong talent for the future.

Q: What does Landon Donovan mean to the league and represent for soccer in the U.S.?

A: Really a great American soccer hero. I think he represents what’s great about this sport in this country. He grew up in California. He’s bilingual. He’s played and been one of the great stars of our national team. He’s certainly helped elevate the position and reputation of Major League Soccer for so many years. I think this past month at the World Cup he transcended our sport and became a guy that really has broken through to the general sports market. Boy, there are very few people in this country who love sports who don’t know about Landon Donovan and don’t know the great development of the sport and the recent success of the sport. Landon has had a lot to do where the sport is today. Not just the sport, but where Major League Soccer is today.

Q: How important has he been to MLS?

A: I believe that Landon is a very, very important member of our league and a guy that is going to help continue to grow the sport in this country. We made a big commitment to Landon last year by extending his contract and making a major financial commitment to him. It’s my hope that Landon stays with us for the rest of his career. Now at the end of the day, the decision as to whether or not Landon stays with the league or leaves the league is between the L.A. Galaxy and Landon Donovan. But from my perspective as commissioner, I very much hope that he can continue the job that he started and help us grow the interest and popularity of Major League Soccer at a time when I believe we have some real momentum. The second part of that, as the league commissioner, I don’t subscribe to the fact that it’s good to our league to have our best players leave. I understand that that’s what happens in other leagues. But no one can convince me that it’s better for Major League Soccer to have a guy like Landon play in England as opposed to playing in front of his fans in this country and serving as a real focal point for young kids to really aspire to dream to one day be him and wear an MLS jersey. That’s certainly in the best interest of the league. But at the end of the day, that’s a decision that will be made, if it ever comes to that point, by Landon and his team, the L.A. Galaxy. It’s not a league decision. It’s a player and team decision.

Q: At what point did you feel comfortable saying that the MLS has arrived, and what does the league have to do to thrive? Arrive meaning they’re here to stay, not going anywhere and thrive meaning owners in every city and not multiple owners.

A: I think the new era of Major League Soccer started in 2005 with our expansion with Salt Lake and Los Angeles, continued in San Jose and then Toronto and then obviously thereafter. We began to really feel that we were managing a very stable and viable business when more and more investors started coming into the league. Since 2005, we’ve added 14 new owners. We’ve invested more than $1.2 billion in soccer stadiums since 2005. In 2007 we signed long-term television deals with ESPN, Fox and Univision that began paying us rights fees. In 2005 we signed a 10-year, $150 million deal with Adidas, and David Beckham joined the league in 2007. It was at that time that we really began to feel that this league is here to stay and our best years were ahead. Our goal is to be one of the top soccer leagues in the world. We believe we can achieve that goal. And I don’t believe American fans would accept anything less. To achieve that we need to have the best American players playing in Major League Soccer. We need to have some of the best international players in our game. We need to have 20 to 24 teams. All of our teams will be playing in stadiums they own and control and our league’s an important part of the U.S. sports landscape. I believe that’s an achievable goal.

Q: Each World Cup, soccer lovers in the U.S. are optimistic that the sport will gain prominence here. Is the 2010 World Cup the one that finally pushes the U.S. into Soccer Nation status? If so, why? If not, why not?

A: I believe the 2010 World Cup proved we are a soccer nation. People from coast to coast and everywhere in between were captivated by the tournament and were following the trials, and tribulations, the thrills and the success of the U.S. national team. Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria was viewed by millions and millions and millions of people on YouTube. Most importantly, the tournament broke through to be socially relevant in our country. I believe that set a new watermark for soccer in this country and provides all of us in the soccer business in this country with momentum to continue to build the sport for years to come.

Q: In the first 15 years of MLS, what would you say have been the top three most important developments in league history?

A: The development of soccer stadiums. It was getting every game broadcast in high definition on both network, cable and local television. And it was the continual improvement of the quality of play, including the advent of the designated player rule, which attracted world class players to the league.

Q: In that same time, what have been the top three setbacks?

A: Certainly contracting from 12 teams to 10 teams, certainly the contraction we went through in 2002 when Tampa and Miami left the league would be first on that list. What I’d say is that certainly, the biggest challenge that we’ve lived through the last 10 years has been the contraction issue. But for the most part because we are a young league, most of our activity over the last 10 years has been on an upward trend, has been positive and on an upward trend. I cannot even think of three things that were setbacks, honestly.

Q: Can you envision the league ever evolving out of its single-entity structure?

A: The single entity is important of the character of Major League Soccer. Without it we would not be where we are today. What people don’t understand about the single entity is that all it really does is provide our owners with the flexibility to make decisions based on mutual agreement among themselves. I believe that’s a great structure for an evolving business and one that I see remaining in place for quite some time.

Q: What kind of commissioner would you like your legacy to be? Would MLS commissioners like to be like former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who created a structure where everybody shares equally and there is more parity or like Major League Baseball with little parity.

A: I was fortunate enough in my early career in the NFL to work for Pete Rozelle and then to continue working for over a decade for Paul Tagliabue. And I believe the NFL is the most popular league in the world for a reason. And that’s that every fan knows at the beginning of the season that their team has a chance to go to the Super Bowl. And I believe that belief is an important quality for any league to be successful. Therefore I certainly subscribe more to the NFL’s approach to parity than I do perhaps to the structure of the English Premier League, where for the most part only a handful of clubs really have a chance of winning the league each year.

Q: What separates your players from athletes from other major sports leagues in America?

A: Soccer players are truly unique in that they grow up in a very diverse environment as youth players. They tend to turn professional at a very young age. From their earliest playing days they travel abroad for international competition. Therefore they seem to be more worldly than other professional athletes. What’s more I take great pride in the fact that our league is made up of guys like Brian Ching, who are deeply committed in their community, have their own foundations and truly embrace their position as role models. If there is anything that I am the most proud of as commissioner it’s the quality of the character of our players, and I really mean that.

Q: For many in America, soccer is considered a European or Latin American sport. How can MLS help the sport evolve past that type of reputation?

A: America is truly made up of every country from around the world. It infuriates me when I hear comments that soccer is not an American sport. It is so totally American in that we are such a global nation. I truly believe that this sport resonates with a very, very changing demographic. A very, very changing American demographic that’s multilingual, that’s connected to the global community and that represents different ethnic groups.

Q: What is your position on goal-line technology?

A: We are very supportive of any changes that FIFA decides to make that would utilize technology that would improve officiating. We would never make that decision on our own. But without doubt we would be supportive of both utilizing technology or even additional officials to just make our games better.

Q: Is there a subject that you’d like to touch more on before we finish?

A: Yes, Landon Donovan. Landon in my view is one of the best American soccer players of our generation. He’s just such an important part of our league’s history and he’s also an important part of our future. I can’t thank him enough for the contributions that he’s made in the past, and it’s my hope and my expectation that we can continue to count on him to help grow this sport in this country and to help build Major League Soccer into a truly great professional soccer league.